Liverpool are on the cusp of making Premier League history with the signing of Germany star Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
Attacking midfielder Wirtz was the star of the Leverkusen side that sensationally won the Bundesliga in 2023/24 with an invincible season.
On June 13, The Athletic reported that Leverkusen and Liverpool had agreed terms on a deal worth €136.3m (£116m/$157.9m), with an initial €117.5m up front and the rest to be paid in performance-related add-ons.
The transfer will make Wirtz the most expensive player in the history of British football and puts him in the upper reaches of the all-time list. Let’s have a look at where.
MORE: How will Liverpool line up with Florian Wirtz?
Most expensive transfers in soccer history
Wirtz comes in fourth, with the top of the list still dominated by Paris Saint-Germain’s seismic summer of 2017.
Neymar joined the capital club for €222m after having his Barcelona release clause triggered. Kylian Mbappe followed on an initial loan from Monaco in a move that was valued at €180m. They remain the two most expensive single transfers in the sport’s history.
Wirtz’s arrival at Anfield means Liverpool now boast the record purchase and sale in English football. Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona for €160m (£142m) in January 2018 as the Camp Nou outfit haphazardly tried to recover from the Neymar debacle.
The previous most expensive Premier League player was Enzo Fernandez, who joined Chelsea in January 2023 — weeks after winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina — for €121m.
Top 10 biggest football transfers of all time
| Rank | Player | From | To | Fee (€) | Fee (£) | Year |
| 1. | Neymar | Barcelona | PSG | €222m | £200m | 2017 |
| 2. | Kylian Mbappe* | Monaco | PSG | €180m | £163m | 2018* |
| 3. | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool | Barcelona | €160m | £142m | 2018 |
| 4. | Florian Wirtz** | Leverkusen | Liverpool | €137.5m | £116.5m | 2025 |
| 5. | Joao Felix | Benfica | Atletico Madrid | €126m | £112.9m | 2019 |
| 6. | Enzo Fernandez | Benfica | Chelsea | €121m | £106.8m | 2023 |
| 7. | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid | Barcelona | €120m | £107m | 2019 |
| 8. | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa | Manchester City | €117m | £100m | 2021 |
| 9. | Declan Rice | West Ham | Arsenal | €116.6m | £100m | 2023 |
| 10. | Moises Caicedo | Brighton | Chelsea | €116.2m | £100m | 2023 |
*After initial season-long loan in 2017/18
**Transfer not yet completed
How many of the most expensive transfers turned out well?
Liverpool securing Wirtz is unquestionably a coup. He is one of the hottest prospects in European football and promises to be a leading light in the world game for the next decade.
However, a weighty price tag is no guarantee. From the list above, unqualified success is hard to find.
Neymar became Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time top scorer before being succeeded by Kylian Mbappe and they collected domestic trophies by the bucketload during their respective six- and seven-year stays at the Parc des Princes.
However, Neymar’s move failed on its own terms, given he left without either a Ballon d’Or or a Champions League title in his honours collection, while PSG finally winning Europe’s top competition in the season after Mbappe joined Real Madrid is, at best, an unhelpful context.
Philippe Coutinho‘s move to help fill the Neymar void at Barcelona quickly felt doomed as financial catastrophe engulfed the Catalan club, who suffered the embarrassment of Coutinho scoring twice against them when on loan at Bayern Munich. That brace capped an 8-2 win in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2020.
Joao Felix fared little better at Barca, where he signed on loan after failing to ignite under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid. Benfica’s other big sale on the list, Enzo Fernandez, has impressed at times in a Chelsea side undergoing a lengthy and expensive transition. His midfield colleague, Moises Caecido, had a very good 2024/25, but both are some distance from being considered value for money.
Antoine Griezmann was and is an all-time great at Atletico, but he also struggled during his turn in Barca’s nonsense period. The similarly priced Jack Grealish was integral to Manchester City’s treble success under Pep Guardiola in 2022/23, but if we zoom out, six months of consistently excellent performances within four years hardly represents bang for your buck.
At present, Declan Rice is probably the most indisputable success two seasons into his time at Arsenal. Nevertheless, a major trophy or two would be nice.
